


as we rise and fall, the world keeps turning (stuck running on the wheel of life)

by raikotoho



Series: Stuck Running 'verse [1]
Category: Homestuck, Runaways (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, SBURB - Alternate Session, implied corpsesmooch, implied suicide (but not really)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-24
Updated: 2012-08-24
Packaged: 2017-11-12 16:50:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/493524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raikotoho/pseuds/raikotoho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One night, Alex Wilder calls Nico Minoru and asks her to play a game with him. Twelve hours later, the meteors have reduced planet Earth to a wasteland.</p>
<p>(What if...the Runaways played SBURB?)</p>
            </blockquote>





	as we rise and fall, the world keeps turning (stuck running on the wheel of life)

**Author's Note:**

> Knowledge of both fandoms is ideal, but a [Homestuck](http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6)/[Runaways](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaways_\(comics\)) crossover kind of goes out to a niche audience, so I've tried to make it a bit accessible... if you're a Homestuck fan who doesn't know much about Runaways, you should be okay, since that stuff is mostly explained in the plot. If you're a Runaways fan who doesn't know much about Homestuck, you'll probably have a bit of a harder time with the game mechanics, but I've included an explanation with helpful wiki links in the end notes if you still want to give it a try.
> 
> The tagged pairings are more implied than actual pairings, but those are the ones I'm aiming for.
> 
> And [here](http://kannazuki.tumblr.com/post/30115384225) is a link to the character profiles on Tumblr! (But save them for after you read, because there might be some spoilers in there.)

One night, Alex Wilder calls Nico Minoru and asks her to play a game with him. Nico is justifiably confused: Alex isn’t really her friend at all; they see each other once a year and speak biannually at most. She stalls, his requests grow more and more frantic, she eventually agrees. Nico still doesn’t understand why she’s his choice of partner or why he’s so eager to play SBURB in the first place.

Twelve hours later, the meteors have reduced planet Earth to a wasteland.

**……**

After Gert safely facilitates her entry the Medium, Nico goes downstairs to find her parents and explain why the house has suddenly relocated to, as far as she can tell, a completely different planet. They’re already gone, though there is a note pinned to the refrigerator: Gone out, be safe, help yourself to the magic in the basement.

Nico investigates, certain they’re joking, and is struck dumb when she finds an array of spell books and magic wands. Apparently, her parents are secret wizards, and Nico puts off the inevitable shock coma in favor of taking inventory.

The supplies include, as mentioned, the necessary materials for several different types of offensive spellcasting, as well as a collection of magical artifacts. Nico captchalogues the lot (and that took a bit of getting used to) and heads upstairs to check in on Alex.

_Have you tried messing with the Alchemiter yet?_ he asks via instant message. _Once you kill some imps, you can use the grist to upgrade your weapons and armor._

Nico goes outside and practices with her new wandkind abstratus, sniping from just inside the magical barrier her parents have set up to protect the house from invasion. A chunk of her newly-won build grist promptly disappears as her house spawns a third story; apparently, Gert has decided to investigate the server player’s building capabilities. Nico squints up at the first gate far above the rooftop, and decides she’ll need to find more imps.

Her sprite, bright red and shaped like her voodoo doll pincushion, approaches, burbling incoherently and drifting around her head. It follows her back up to her room, and Nico spends a few minutes chucking detritus in its general direction before giving up on second-tier protoyping.

She messages Gert, who quickly replies, _Sorry in the middle of a crisis talk later,_ and logs off before Nico can ask her to deploy any more equipment. Nico chalks it up to more meteors and kills a few more imps, climbing her echeladder and filling her grist caches. Gert logs back on a couple hours later and deploys the Punch Designix, along with some other Alchemiter accessories, and Nico finally gets to work on her upgrades. Most of the stuff she makes is useless, but it turns out better and better as she gets a feel for punch-card alchemy.

The ground begins to shake, and Nico looks out the window to see three hulking ogres splashing through one of the red rivers surrounding her house. They’re horrifying to look at, huge and muscled, with rough black skin stitched to patchy fur like some kind of science experiment, covered in hundreds of sharp spines.

Nico grins, pulls a weapon from her Strife Deck, and turns them into grist.

**……**

Once all the players have settled into the game, Alex catches up to Nico and they spend a while on side quests and puzzles. They’re a good team, Alex as the brain and Nico as the brawn (really, she’s surprised he’s made it this far on his shieldkind abstratus), and sweep through every task with ease. They climb their respective echeladders in leaps and bounds, collecting grist and boondollars like they’re going out of fashion.

A few hours later, Skaia disappears over the horizon. It’s suddenly a lot darker and the imps are a lot stronger, and when one of them tries to bite her with a pair of impressively elongated canines, Nico realizes that someone must have prototyped a copy of _Dracula_.

“They’re weaker in sunlight!” she tells Alex, blasting indiscriminately as she ducks an imp's kamikaze leap. “Or whatever passes for sunlight here, anyway.”

“Do you have a spell for that?” Alex asks, smashing an imp with the flat of his shield, then driving the bladelike edge into its neck. Nico mentally revises her estimation of shieldkind’s offensive value.

“Yeah, but it’s in the book. Want me to stop and look it up?”

They handle the lower level underlings without too much damage, but when the liches begin approaching, they realize how much trouble they’re facing.

“Oh man,” Alex says.

“How many extra lives do we get?” Nico asks.

“One,” Alex says. “But only under very specific circumstances.”

“So what’s the plan?”

The liches attack, but before Nico and Alex can muster a defense, the entire battlefield is whited out by a flash of light.

“Hey guys,” says Karolina Dean, and Nico has never been happier to see her. “Thought you could use a hand.”

“Thanks,” Nico manages, staring at the windfall of grist left behind— _how on Earth did she do that, and in one hit, too?_ —as Karolina floats down to the ground. “You’re…glowing?”

It’s not exactly the smoothest of openings, but Karolina doesn’t seem to mind, and explains that she is apparently an alien from outer space, her parents having decided to come clean when the meteors fell. She also adds that her powers are derived from sunlight, which accounts for her strength against the underlings. Nico and Alex promptly alchemize new weapons using one of her alien gadgets.

Nico is grateful to have a third player amongst them, if only for the company; Karolina’s quiet cheer does a lot for the atmosphere. But her presence is also a reminder of something more: Karolina has always been down-to-earth, especially since her parents are movie stars (and ironically, given her intergalactic origin). She doesn’t dream of bigger destinies or hidden mysteries; she doesn’t have any desires to project. They’re not just a couple of kids screwing around with a video game anymore. If Karolina’s involved, this is real.

High stakes is an understatement, but Nico has always done well under pressure.

**……**

The game has been running for two weeks straight, and Nico is more than ready to quit. She’s tired of killing underlings, of eating alchemized food, of bleeding all over her Sylladex every time she needs to extract something from her stupid Bloodline Modus. She can’t even sleep properly, because she inevitably finds herself amidst the cathedral towers of a dark purple planet, with the voices of eldritch horrorterrors whispering at the edges of her mind. She’s tired of SBURB.

Nico, Alex, and Karolina have reached the tops of their echeladders and defeated their Denizens; all that’s left is to defeat the Black King before Skaia can be destroyed by the meteor shower known as the Reckoning. But while Nico and her companions are ready for the final battle, the other half of their team is not.

“This is Alex, calling Gert, Chase, and Molly,” Alex says, tapping his earpiece. “Can I get a status report?”

“Gert here,” a voice crackles over the main channel. “I’m on LOSAS with Chase.”

“Any estimate on when you can get to Skaia?” Alex asks.

“It’ll be a while,” Gert says, sounding a little strained. “We’re fighting Giclopes.”

“And of course, the stupid planet decided we needed a challenge,” Chase adds, irritated. “It went dark about an hour ago, so now we’ve got the undead legion to worry about. Thanks a lot, Minoru.”

“Hey, blame physics,” Nico joins the conversation. “I have no power over planetary rotation.”

“Okay, that’s fine,” Alex says, jumping in before they can escalate. “What about you, Molly? What planet are you on?”

“Um, I’m still on LOSAF,” Molly says.

“What?” Alex asks. “Why?”

“She brought half of Hawaii with her, you think she’d want to leave?” Chase quips. His breathing sounds slightly faster. “She’s got a resort, a beach, a goddamn volcano…”

“Not my fault I was on vacation,” Molly says. “And don’t dis the volcano; your girlfriend”—Chase splutters—“will thank me for it when she goes to meet her Denizen.”

“Molly,” Alex interrupts. “Is there a reason you haven’t been climbing your echeladder? We’re going to need all hands on deck for the Black King.”

“Oh, I’ve been climbing,” Molly assures him. “But I can’t really go running off to different planets right now. I have to make sure the place doesn’t get overrun by underlings, not to mention there’s my breeding duties to take care of.”

“Your what?” Karolina asks, appalled.

“Dude, you’re like, twelve,” Chase says.

“I’m sixteen, you ass!” Molly retorts. “Besides, it’s only frogs!”

“Anything we can do to help?” Nico asks.

“Yeah, I could use a few extra hands,” Molly says. “But Gert, if you’ve got your hero powers figured out, could you drop by sometime?”

“I’ll see what I can—Chase, watch out!”

An ugly squelch sounds over the radio, followed by a cry of pain.

“Chase? Chase!”

**……**

“Alex, this is a stupid idea,” Nico says.

“It’s really not,” Alex says. He stares down at the stone slab, green and carved with a symbol vaguely reminiscent of a neuron. “We’ve seen the God Tier, we know what it can do. Why shouldn’t we go for the biggest advantage we can?”

“Because that was an accident, and there’s no guarantee you can recreate those circumstances!”

The radio waves descended into chaos after Chase’s sudden and unfortunate evisceration. Karolina and Molly were frantic, requesting updates every few seconds (“Oh god, Chase, are you okay? Gert, what’s happening?!”) while Alex shouted instructions (“Gert, listen to me, Gert! You have to kiss him, you have to revive him!”) and Nico sat, listening numbly. Then, Gert abruptly went off comms and they waited in nail-biting silence until Chase bounded up across the battlefield in a purple cape and hood, lively as ever (“Dudes, check me out!”) and they mobbed him in relief.

“It sounds easy enough,” Alex remarks. “I still have my dream self on Derse, and here’s my Quest Bed.” He sits on the edge of the slab. “Look, Nico, I’ve made my decision. You can help me, or not, but I’ll just say that using my shield is probably going to be a lot more painful.”

Nico takes out her wand, aims, hesitates. Then she reaches out, grasping Alex’s hand to wrap his fingers around the handle, and surrenders her Strife Specibus.

He nods at her, and tries a smile as he turns the weapon toward his chest. “See you on the other side.”

She closes her eyes. He fires.

**……**

Both Nico and Alex have ascended to God Tier by the time they join Molly and Karolina at the Land of Sand and Frogs.

“Hey guys,” Molly greets them as they float down to the beach. She’s watching over a large glass enclosure filled with frogs of every shape, size, and color. “Nice threads.”

“How’s it going over here?” Alex asks.

“We’ve hit a bit of a roadblock,” Molly says. “I’m almost done, I think, I’m just missing this one sequence and I can’t find the frog I need. And yes, I need it,” she adds as Alex opens his mouth. “Trust me when I say if you wanna win the game, this frog is absolutely necessary.”

“Fine,” Alex says. “Can you delegate? If you defeat your Denizen while someone else looks for this frog, we can maximize efficiency.”

“Oh, I already took care of Echidna,” Molly says cheerfully, casually punching an imp that strays too close to the enclosure. It explodes into grist. “And I’ll hit the top of my echeladder as soon as I breed the Genesis Frog. So really, all I have to do is go God Tier and that seems a bit like overkill at this point.”

Alex is speechless.

“Looks like you’re on top of things,” Nico says, amused.

“I’ve been dreaming on Prospit for as long as I can remember,” Molly says. “I think I’ve gotten the hang of the game mechanics by now.” She glances at Alex with an expression that says, _so you don’t have to babysit me, Wilder._

“Touché,” Alex says, raising his hands in surrender. “Alright, tell me about this Genesis Frog.”

**……**

Three days later, Gert and Chase arrive on LOSAF fresh from the palaces of their respective Denizens. To Alex’s delight, they are both God Tier, and have a full set of fraymotifs equipped. This conveniently coincides with Nico’s fortuitous discovery of the final frog and Molly’s successful breeding of the Genesis Tadpole, which is stored in a small tank and captchalogued for safety. With four team members at God Tier, two of them with additional power-ups, and the other two members at the tops of their echeladders, they are ready to fight the Black King.

Unfortunately for them, the Reckoning hasn’t yet begun, and their campaign stalls once more. Alex’s rushed timetable has put them ahead of schedule, and they can’t advance until the meteors fall.

“Why can’t we just off the dude _before_ he starts pummeling us with space rocks?” Chase wants to know.

“Because it’d cause a paradox,” Alex says. “The meteors that destroyed Earth are the ones from the Reckoning, and they caused us to start playing in the first place.”

“We could try to save Earth while we have the chance,” Nico points out. “Maybe we can prevent all of this from happening.”

“That’s not how it works,” Gert explains. “The meteors already fell, which means they are going to fall. It’s a stable time loop that perpetuates itself. If we try to change it, we’ll branch off from the original timeline and eventually be destroyed.”

“Right,” Alex says. “Not to mention, I suspect these particular meteors are crucial our own existences.” They all look at him in confusion and he says cryptically, “As far as I can tell, SBURB is self-perpetuating on a far bigger scale than we imagined.”

“When I was a kid, I asked my parents why they were famous,” Karolina says dreamily. “They said that all the best actors come to earth on meteors because star power is from literal stars.” Everyone is a little startled by the change of subject, and she reddens a little under their stares. “Sorry, I just thought of that for some reason.”

“Your parents told you they came from outer space,” Chase says slowly, “and you believed them?”

“No,” Karolina says. “But maybe I should have, given that it’s true.”

This is apparently news to Chase and Gert, so Karolina once again explains her celestial origins, as well as elaborating on her powers.

“What did you think was going on?” Karolina asks. “I mean, it’s not exactly easy to miss.” She gestures at the pastel glow emanating from her skin, turning locks of blonde into drifting streamers of rainbow light.

“I dunno, something you alchemized, I guess,” Chase says. “I know my folks left enough crap lying around to make a goddamn nuclear bomb; Rainbow Brite would be a piece of cake.” He shakes his head. “Whatever. Anyone else got a confession to make? Might as well get it all out in the open before the big throwdown.”

“Chase, there’s something I think you should know” Molly says earnestly. “I’m a mutant.”

“I know that, you little twerp!” Chase scowls. “It’s not like you haven’t been threatening to pop my head off since you were ten!”

“I think I’m a witch,” Nico says before Molly can do more than make a face, and Chase is immediately distracted.

“I don’t need sass from you, Minoru,” he grumbles, “your entire planet is covered in consorts’ scribbles all like ‘Witch of Blood, save us!’ As if the ruby slippers weren’t a big enough clue.”

“Not just in-game, I mean,” Nico says, ignoring the jab at her God Tier outfit. “In real life. My parents left a bunch of magical stuff in the basement for me to find when we started the game.”

“My parents left me a dead dinosaur,” Gert says.

“What,” Nico says flatly.

“You mean, like a fossilized skeleton or something?” Alex asks.

“No, a real dinosaur,” Gert clarifies, “like a pet. She’s a genetically engineered _Deinonychus_ from the 87th century. Apparently, the time thing runs in the family.”

“And she died?” Molly asks, dismayed. “Oh no…”

“It was the meteors; they caved in part of the basement,” Gert explains. “But she wasn’t dead for very long. Chase stuck her in my Cactusprite after I got into the Medium. She was my tier two prototype.”

“Does anyone else think it’s weird that our parents all have these dirty little secrets hiding in their closets?” Chase asks. “I mean, mutants, aliens, wizards, time travelers,” he points at each of the girls in turn. “My parents are mad scientists with a TARDIS for a tool shed…”

“And mine,” Alex says, “are members of a secret society called the Pride. Actually, all of our parents are.”

Everyone stares at him in confusion, and the general consensus is something along the lines of “Wait, what?”

“Haven’t you ever wondered what they did every year at their so-called charity dinners?” Alex asks. “It has less to do with arguing over tax deductibles and more to do with running an entire city. They’ve been working behind the scenes to keep LA under control for twenty-five years.”

“Alex, are you serious?” Nico asks. “How do you know all this?”

“I found a copy of their entire history, past and future, in the secret passageway behind the library,” he explains. “It’s called the Abstract; I already decoded a few chapters.”

“Okay, this I have to see,” Chase snorts derisively. “Our parents, running LA? My old man can barely handle a parent-teacher meeting, and you think he’s in charge of the biggest city on the West Coast?”

“Your parents,” Alex says, “are scientists so far ahead of cutting edge, they make stuff even the Avengers haven’t seen. The Hayeses are making breakthroughs in about a dozen different branches of medicine. The Minorus are in the government; the Yorkes have access to an unparalleled information network; the Deans are public figures loved by everyone across the nation. My own parents work with the police force, and have cut crime rates over thirty percent, with homicides decreasing up to forty-five. All of them are very rich and very powerful. If you need allies, believe me, you could do a lot worse than the Pride.”

“Yeah? And what did all that power do for them during the apocalypse?” Chase says bitterly. “It’s hardly the ideal retirement plan.”

There’s a tense sort of silence. It’s possible to bring non-players into the Medium, as witnessed by the swarm of tourists barricaded in the resort up the beach. It is also possible that, given Alex’s conviction, their parents are wandering the Incipisphere, laying waste to any underlings that challenge them. But they haven’t seen hide or hair of their guardians in the weeks since their entry, and the conditions on Earth are not exactly conducive to survival.

Suddenly, a streak of red light races across the sky, hurtling toward Skaia, and they watch as it is swallowed by a rippling green epicycloid. Skaia’s defense portals work quickly to prevent a sudden and meteoric destruction, but the Veil is filled with asteroids to be weaponized, and without intervention, defeat is inevitable.

Alex stands and dusts his hands. “Showtime.”

**……**

Alex has the entire fight planned from start to end. The boys and Nico charge from the front, drawing the king’s attention while Molly attacks from behind. Gert holds the perimeter with Lacesprite and an enormous axe, preventing interference from the Dersites, while Karolina stays up in the air and covers their weak spots. It’s a good plan, with multiple redundancies and variations for a wide array of situations.

None of these variations cover the death of a teammate.

Despite his lifelike appearance, the Black King is, in essence, a game construct. He does not tire; he cannot make an error of judgment that would cost him the battle. Alex understands this, and has accounted for it, but he forgets that while the Black King is a computer program, he can still learn. So when Karolina proves capable of inciting the most damage while remaining out of his range, she finds herself in the crosshairs of every soldier in his army.

“Karolina!” Gert cries a warning just before they fire, and she whirls in midair, frantically weaving a protective net of white-hot lasers. Many of the projectiles are knocked off course or outright incinerated, but Karolina is surrounded; her powers are too new and her control is too weak. It isn’t long before she falls.

Nico screams and abandons her post, Alex curses under his breath and orders everyone else to remain in position, damn it, we still have a fight going on!

“Nico!” he yells over his shoulder, rolling under a blow.

“Hold him without me!” she calls back, voice shaky but determined. “I’m taking her to LOCAS.”

“We need—”

She tosses him her Strife Deck and teleports out.

They return ten minutes later, just in time to crush the Black King in a flanking maneuver that marks a decisive end to the battle.

“All right, K?” Chase asks as Nico takes the scepter and deactivates the meteors.

Karolina smiles, resplendent in gold. “Fine.” Her new God Tier clothes, combined with the glow of her powers, make her look like an angel.

“We did it!” Molly cheers, dancing in place. “We won!”

“This is it, right?” Nico asks Alex. “We’re finally done with this game?”

He nods. “All we have to do is claim our reward.”

“Alex…” Nico says uncertainly, and he turns to look at her. “This new universe that we’re making…it won’t be the same, will it?”

“Nico…”

“Our world is dead, Alex,” she says. “Six billion people, killed by the meteors. There’s no way we can just replace them.”

“No,” Alex admits, “we can’t. But we can do the next best thing.” He raises his voice. “Everyone, I think we should hold a team meeting before we start the Ultimate Alchemy.”

“Dude, we don’t have to go over the plan again,” Chase says, exasperated. “We don’t even need a plan; we all know how alchemy works!”

“This is different,” Alex says. “We’re creating an entire universe; we need to talk about what we’re doing. We have complete control over this universe’s contents, so—”

“WRONG, BOY.”

They freeze, unable to place the origin of the terrifying voice that echoes and booms from everywhere and nowhere at once, and are quickly surrounded as twelve figures flicker into existence around them.

“Sorry, son,” says Geoffrey Wilder, “but the Gibborim will be in charge of the universe. The only question is who gets to live in it.”

“What?” Alex says, confused. “Dad, what’s going on?”

“The Gibborim,” Nico breathes, half a question and half a quiet exclamation of awe. “They’re real?”

“What are—” Karolina begins.

“WE ARE THE GIBBORIM, AND WE ARE YOUR GODS,” the voice says, and three giants are suddenly present on the checkered battlefield, staring disdainfully. “BOW.”

Nico looks around, watching all twelve parents sink to their knees, and glances at Alex. He nods, and they silently urge the other players to follow orders. No one knows what this turn of events will bring, and it’s best to play along until they better understand what’s taking place.

“Master,” Geoffrey says, lowering his gaze. “We are ready for the Final Wave.”

Victor Stein, Chase’s dad, sets down a white canister; its pale blue glow casts a harsh and sinister relief over his gaunt face. Nico bites her tongue and examines it warily out of the corner of her eye.

Suddenly the canister is gone, and everyone averts their eyes as the Gibborim begin glowing brightly. When the glaring light fades, the giants seem more solid, more sharply defined, as if given a stronger foothold in the Medium. Nico surmises that the contents of the canister was some kind of stabilizing agent or power source.

“OUR EDEN IS UPON US,” the Gibborim rumble, and even their voices have gained intensity. “NOW STAND, YOUNG HEROES.”

They exchange glances and slowly shuffle to their feet.

“YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CREATION OF OUR NEW PARADISE, AND FOR THAT YOU SHALL BE REWARDED. FIVE OF YOUR NUMBER HAVE ACHIEVED POWER BEYOND THAT OF THE MUNDANE. THESE FIVE WILL BE JOINING US. THE YOUNGEST WILL DIE WITH THE REST OF HUMANITY.”

A choked gasp sounds from behind them, and the players stare at each other in horror, unconsciously tightening their formation around Molly.

“You said there would be six of us!” Gene Hayes shouts, jumping to his feet. “Six would survive! Take my daughter as well!”

“HOLD YOUR TONGUE, MUTANT, A QUARTER-CENTURY OF SERVICE DOES NOT GIVE YOU LICENSE TO FORGET YOUR PLACE. LIKEWISE, THE POWER OF A MILLION INNOCENT SOULS WOULD NOT PAY THE WAY FOR ONE WHO IS UNWORTHY. YOUR PROGENY HAS NOT MADE A SACRIFICE, AND THUS CANNOT BE ALLOWED INTO OUR NEW EARTH. ANOTHER WILL BE ELEVATED WITH THE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE.”

“Alex,” Nico whispers, “am I hearing this right? Did our parents feed souls to mythical evil giants for twenty-five years to bargain for immortality?” She peers at him, and the expression on his face is grim, but unsurprised. “You knew?!”

“I’ve known for years,” he says quietly. “I found the Abstract and read it cover to cover when we were sixteen.”

Nico is shocked and horrified and heartbroken and a hundred other emotions she can’t describe, but she doesn’t have time to sort it out, because the Gibborim are speaking again.

“THE POSITION SHALL BE APPOINTED TO THE ONE WHO HAS SERVED US WELL—”

“Hang on!” Molly says, boldly interrupting as she shoves her way to the front of the group. “I think I’ve served you pretty fucking well! I mean, I didn’t know you guys existed until a couple minutes ago, but I did you all a huge favor!”

Everyone holds their breath, somewhere between terrified and scandalized. The Gibborim stare down at her.

“EXPLAIN, CHILD.”

“I’m the one that bred the Genesis Frog,” Molly says. “I’m the one that actually made the universe you’re all about to live in, so excuse me if I think I deserve a seat at the Round Table!”

“REGARDLESS OF YOUR ACTIONS,” the Gibborim say, “YOU HAVE NOT ASCENDED TO THE GOD TIER AND CLAIMED ITS POWER.”

“That’s ’cause I don’t need it!” Molly says confidently. “I could beat any of these guys in a fight, even if they’re gods.”

The Gibborim look at each other in silent conference.

“VERY WELL,” they say, “IF YOU CAN MANAGE TO SLAY ONE OF YOUR COMPANIONS IN BATTLE, YOU WILL BE WELCOMED INTO OUR NEW HOME.”

“Uh,” Molly falters. “Yeah, I don’t think I can do that. What if I fight until they give up?” she offers.

“UNACCEPTABLE. EITHER YOU WILL KILL, OR YOU WILL DIE.”

“Molly—” Alex begins, stepping forward.

“Deal’s off! I’m not killing one of my friends!”

“SO BE IT.” The lead giant raises a six-fingered hand burning with barely restrained power and fires a burst of flame aimed at the diminutive teenager before him. “YOU HAVE MADE YOUR CHOICE.”

“No!” Alex shouts.

The fireball impacts. The bodies fall. Everyone is standing, screaming, stunned. Nico runs.

“Oh god, Alex,” she says, falling to her knees and staring at the charred hole burned through his chest. She reaches forward, carefully lifting him up and cradling him in her lap. “Alex!” His eyes gaze blankly up at her; she closes her own and takes a deep breath before slowly opening them again.

_We’re still in the game,_ she tells herself, _there’s a way to fix this. Think._ Her mind blanks and spins wildly; she could take him to his Quest Bed but he’s already a God Tier player; can she resurrect him again?

Chase breaks through her panic with a yelp of surprise, and Nico jerks her head up, looking frantically around her. The first thing she sees is Karolina on the ground a couple feet away, Molly wrapped in her arms and _fuck there is no way her neck is supposed to be at that angle._

“Karolina?” she ventures, voice wavering. “Is she—?”

“She’s going to be okay, I think,” Karolina says, swallowing hard. “I—I’m pretty sure she’ll resurrect as her dream self.” She tries a wobbly smile, but the rapid coiling of her glowing blonde locks betrays her agitation.

Suddenly Nico remembers how, during Chase’s death scare, Alex described the specific circumstances necessary to activate a resurrection. She leans down, and lurches back when a hand falls on her shoulder.

“Alex is God Tier, Nico,” Gert says, “that’s not how it works with him. If he’s going to resurrect, he’ll do it whether you kiss him or not.”

Nico nods, and stares at the body. “How long will it take?” she asks.

Gert hesitates. “A God Tier player is almost immortal,” she says slowly, “but he can die if his death is either just or heroic.”

Nico opens her mouth, changes her mind, reaches up with one hand and closes Alex’s eyes. She lays him gently down on the checkered ground, then stands and sweeps her gaze across the battlefield. Karolina and Molly beside her, Gert and Chase behind her, twelve parents in varying states of disarray surrounding them in a rough circle. Finally, her gaze lands on the Gibborim, observing inscrutably, and she glares.

“You guys are supposed to be all powerful or something,” she says softly. “Can you bring him back?”

“WE WOULD NOT USE THE ABILITY ON ONE SO DISLOYAL.”

“Wrong answer.” Nico draws a staff into her left hand and a wand into her right, pointing the latter at the three giants. “Save him,” she says, “or I will destroy you where you stand.”

Suddenly, they’re angry. Her heart pounds and her knees threaten to give out, she’s so scared, but she grits her teeth and stands her ground.

“YOU DARE THREATEN US?” they thunder. “WE WHO HAVE CREATED YOU, WE WHO ARE YOUR GODS? YOUR INSOLENCE IS YOUR DOWNFALL, HUMAN!”

Nico shoots a bolt of lightning. They roar in pain and counterattack quickly, much more quickly than she expected, but before she can be incinerated, the volley of fireballs bounces off a radiant rainbow force field.

Nico glances at Karolina, who is just as surprised, and they all look up to see Frank and Leslie Dean, sleek and dangerous in their black bodysuits, hovering at eye level with the Gibborim. A quick survey shows the others preparing for battle as well: the Wilders and the Yorkes draw weapons; the Minorus stand in full robes with spells at the ready; the Steins activate a gleaming array of technology; the Hayeses are glowing purple.

“WE ARE YOUR MASTERS,” the Gibborim rage. “YOU WOULD BETRAY US? YOU WOULD THROW AWAY YOUR ETERNAL REWARD?”

“You lost our service the second you started killing our children!”

The battle begins in earnest, and quickly becomes a center of focused chaos. Bolts of energy travel in every direction; those with the power of flight take to the air, dodging attacks and returning fire with increased agility while those on the ground rely on more sophisticated defenses born of science or magic. The combat zone is crowded, and everyone has to be on the lookout for everyone else, but their targets are large enough to make friendly fire mostly irrelevant. And even though the Gibborim can soak up a massive amount of damage, the fact that the giants are taking damage at all is enough to make them optimistic.

It starts going downhill when all three giants aim jets of fire at the ground combatants, composed of all the parents except the Deans. They are quickly protected by a large force field, courtesy of the Steins, but for several minutes, the fire is unrelenting. The air forces take the opportunity to pound their opponents with everything they have.

“Something’s wrong,” Nico shouts eventually, when the Gibborim refuse to be distracted no matter how annoyingly painful the attack. “They’re planning something!”

“Oxygen,” Gert pants, hovering beside her. She nods to Lacesprite, who continues putting her game-given powers to good use by shooting a barrage of purple cactus spines. “Even if that field’s gas permeable, the fire’s burning it all up.”

Nico curses and shouts instructions to the Deans; the three aliens create a new force field, this time around the Gibborim. The giants break off the attack, but the damage is done. Ten of the fighters lay lifeless on the ground.

Nico groans, dropping to avoid an attack, and tries to think. Alex is dead, most of their parents are down, hopefully unconscious, she’s tired and the Gibborim are still going strong. Molly’s most likely still on Prospit, which is probably a good thing: they could use her firepower but the way the battle is going, she’s better off staying away.

“Chase! Karolina! Can you call your sprites for backup?” she asks as she fumbles through her captchalogue cards.

Karolina shakes her head but Chase yanks a pendant out from his shirt. A bright blue pig appears and tries a few attacks, but it doesn’t last long under the Gibborim’s assault.

“It won’t do much good unless it’s a tier two!” Gert says.

Nico puts her cards back in her Sylladex and flies down to Alex. She knows he has a tier two sprite—she prototyped it herself—so if she can find his summoning pendant…she quickly checks for a necklace between silent apologies, pausing to defend herself from attacks.

Karolina lets out a scream of fear, and Nico’s gaze jerks up to see a force field shattering, two figures silhouetted by a swath of flames, an arc of rainbow light as her teammate races to catch them.

“Hasta la vista, bitches!” Chase shouts, throwing a handful of pellets, and absconds.

“Chase!” Nico shouts. “What are you—”

_BOOM._

A wall of light rushes toward her.

Nico blacks out.

**……**

If the Furthest Ring were to be simplified into a single word, that word would be “black.” There are no stars, no asteroids, no landmarks by which to navigate. Travelers never venture deeply and always leave quickly, due to the uncertain nature of time and space in this infinite void beyond the Incipisphere, as well as the eldritch monstrosities that make it their home.

Nico, along with four friends and three sprites, are currently drifting through the Furthest Ring in a giant metal frog.

“You used a nuclear bomb on the Gibborim?!”

“What else was I supposed to do, stab them?”

Nico sighs and rubs at her temples. “Okay, sorry, go on.”

Chase waits a moment more to make sure his audience won’t interrupt, then continues. “Right, so I went up to Prospit to pick up Molly, and when we came back, you guys were starting to regenerate. But it looked like the Gibberish were waking up, so we loaded everyone into the Leapfrog and skedaddled.”

_Not everyone,_ Nico thinks but doesn’t say.

“What about our parents?” Karolina asks. “Did they…?”

Chase shakes his head, and they all fall silent. After a moment, Lacesprite chirps softly and presses up to Gert’s side. Following her example, Hatsprite twines comfortingly around Molly’s neck and Voodoosprite begins to bounce gently off Nico’s head. Chase and Karolina begin to snicker and Nico can’t help one corner of her mouth twitching up into a smile.

“Alright already,” she says when the giggles have developed into full-blown laughs, waving off the sprite. It makes a sound suspiciously similar to a hiccup and flies off the sulk in a corner. “Molly, do you still have the Genesis Frog?”

“Sure,” Molly says. She’s still dressed in yellow Prospit pajamas, and Hatsprite has shifted to a perch on her head. “Dunno what we could do with it, though, if we don’t have an Alchemiter.”

“Hang on, I think I might have one of those,” Chase says, pulling out his wallet and flipping through his captchalogue cards. “I know I have a ton of my old man’s crap floating around in here, I might have grabbed an Alchemiter too.”

“Wait,” Gert says, “you want to go ahead and make the new universe?”

“What else are we going to do?” Nico asks. “We can’t go back to the Medium.”

“Yeah, evil giants wanting to kill us probably hasn’t stopped being a thing,” Chase puts in. “And ’Frogger’s good for short term, but I definitely wouldn’t want to live here forever. It’s so tiny, I could stand in the back and piss into the cockpit.”

“Chase,” Gert groans. “That’s disgusting.”

“But ya love me anyway,” Chase says cheekily. Gert rolls her eyes but doesn’t deny it.

“More to the point,” Nico adds quietly, “this universe is everything our parents…our parents and Alex worked for. I think we should honor their last wishes.”

Everyone nods solemnly.

“Hey Chase,” Molly says suddenly. “Where are we heading?”

“Uh,” Chase says.

“Don’t tell me you just pointed somewhere at random!”

“Hey, it all looks the same to me!”

“We’re lost,” Molly complains. “We’re drifting through the Furthest Ring, surrounded by the tentacles of the Outer Gods, and our pilot has no idea where we’re going. Dammit Chase, if I die before we land, I’m haunting you forever!”

“Leave me alone,” Chase says indignantly, “it’s not like you’d be any better at this!”

“I’m the Rogue of Space, asshole, of course I’d be better at this!”

“Then why don’t you drive?”

Still bickering, they move into the cockpit; Gert smirks and disappears to explore the cargo hold, followed by Lacesprite.

Nico collapses into a chair, wincing at the rising squabble from the front of the craft. “God, it’s going to be a long trip,” she sighs.

Karolina sits next to her. “Yeah,” she says, “but it won’t be so bad.”

Nico looks at her sideways, raising a skeptical eyebrow, and Karolina smiles.

“It already feels like home.”

**-FIN-**

**Author's Note:**

> [SBURB](http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Sburb) is an apocalyptic adventure game masquerading as a Sims-style house-builder. Each session requires at least two players, a client and a server; the former kills underlings and gains levels while the latter builds so the client can reach the series of GATES above his house and advance through the game. The final goal of the game is to create a universe by breeding the GENESIS FROG and defeating the DENIZENS (a boss fight for each player; the reward is a large amount of necessary raw material). 
> 
> [THE INCIPISPHERE](http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Incipisphere) is the game dimension. Within it is THE MEDIUM, which contains (from the center out) SKAIA (the battlefield and final destination of the Gates), PROSPIT (light kingdom), and a ring of PLANETS (one for each player). This is followed by THE VEIL (asteroid belt), DERSE (dark kingdom), and finally, THE FURTHEST RING (infinite space). 
> 
> The [SYLLADEX](http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Sylladex) is the inventory system. Items are stored on CAPTCHALOGUE CARDS and retrieved with varying types of FETCH MODUS (Chase has a simple and functional Wallet Modus; Nico has a non-canon Bloodline Modus, which requires her to smear blood on the cards to retrieve an item). The Sylladex also contains a [STRIFE DECK](http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Strife_Deck) which stores weapons of a single type limited by the KIND ABSTRATUS (for example, wandkind or shieldkind) that is allocated to the STRIFE SPECIBUS. It is possible to have more than one Specibus, and therefore more than one Strife Deck. 
> 
> ALCHEMY is a method of copying or combining items using the captcha codes on the back of captchalogue cards with the ALCHEMITER and various other devices. GRIST, the raw material for both alchemy and building, can be obtained by killing underlings. 
> 
> The ECHELADDER is a measure of a player's strength; "to climb the echeladder" means "to gain levels." This can be achieved by fighting underlings or by completing game tasks. A player is awarded BOONDOLLARS (game currency) every time he levels up, which can be used to buy FRAYMOTIFS (special abilities or attacks). 
> 
> Every player has a [TITLE](http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Mythological_roles) composed of a [CLASS](http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Class) and an [ASPECT](http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Aspect) from which their game powers are derived. 
> 
> [SPRITES](http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Sprite) are game constructs that serve as guides for players; they possess combative powers as well. When the player begins the game, the sprite is unprototyped, and has no shape. It can be prototyped twice by dropping an object into it (the sprite is usually attracted to objects that are dead or doomed). Any prototypings that occur before the player enters the Medium will strengthen the player's enemies; any prototypings that occur after the player enters the Medium will only affect the sprite. Sprites can be used for resurrection (Gert prototyped Old Lace, Chase prototyped bacon). 
> 
> A [DREAM SELF](http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Dream_Self) is a doppelganger that lives on either Prospit or Derse; when the player falls asleep, the dream self wakes up and vice versa. Usually, a player only has access to a dream self once the game begins, though there are exceptions. Prospit dreamers have the opportunity to see prophecies in Skaia's clouds, while Derse dreamers may listen to the gods of the Furthest Ring. If a player dies and the corpse is kissed within a certain time limit, the dream self will take over and the player will resurrect. 
> 
> The [GOD TIERS](http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/God_Tiers) are a series of levels available beyond the echeladder, and can only be obtained by dying on a QUEST BED (one on every planet, unique to each player). A dream self must be available so the player can be resurrected. A player who has reached the God Tiers is conditionally immortal; he can be killed heroically (as a martyr) or justly (as a villain). He also gains new clothes, with the style dependent on the his class and the color dependent on his aspect. 
> 
> [THE RECKONING](http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/The_Reckoning) is a meteor shower activated by the BLACK KING of Derse when the forces of Prospit are defeated. The meteors (which originate from the Veil) are aimed at Skaia, but the assault is slowed by DEFENSE PORTALS, which intercept the meteors (sending them away from Skaia but towards Earth). These portals warp both time and space, and the Reckoning is the same meteor shower that forces the players into the Medium. To win the game, the players must defeat the Black King before the portals fail and Skaia is destroyed.


End file.
